


Making the Jump

by DianaBialaska



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Falling In Love, Gender Issues, Locked Jusenkyo Curses (Ranma 1/2), Self-Acceptance, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26651506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaBialaska/pseuds/DianaBialaska
Summary: Ranma was not able to use the kettle during the battle with Herb and is locked forever. Banished by her father, she meets Kasumi almost a decade later.
Relationships: Mousse/Saotome Ranma, Ono Toufuu/Tendou Kasumi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	Making the Jump

“Hello Ranma.”

Ranma turned her head and found herself looking at Kasumi. She hadn’t seen Kasumi or any of the Tendo family for almost a decade.  
“Oh… Hello Kasumi. They’re not here, are they?” Ranma questioned, glancing around the large entertainment park, hoping not to see the fathers.

“Not at all. I’m just here with my husband and our children. I’ve been joining them on rides but someone has to watch our youngest.” She gestured to the baby carriage that she was currently pushing.

It was at this point that Kasumi noticed that Ranma was heavily pregnant, her lower body had been hidden behind the bench. “Oh my,” the oldest of the three Tendo daughters exclaimed, which caused Ranma to let out a laugh.

“I had not expected to see this,” Kasumi then said, still staring at the pregnant redhead. It had been a long time since she last saw Ranma, but the one she remembered would never have been with a man, never have gotten pregnant.

Ranma shrugged. “It’s what happens when a daddy and a mommy makes sweet sweet love,” she joked, which caused Kasumi’s eyes to widen, before she let out a laugh.

After that laugh, Kasumi let out a sigh. “I never got to say sorry for what happened. I should have been stronger, been more firm…” she began her apology, only for Ranma to wave her hand dismissively. “I remember you defending me. The only one in the Dojo.”

\--

Ranma stared at her father with tears in her eyes. She had returned from the battle with Prince Herb, but things had gone horribly wrong. The only way to unlock her curse was destroyed in the battle. And considering how quick Shampoo and Cologne had abandoned Japan when they heard, Ranma was quite sure there was nothing she could do to ever become a man again.

“I can’t, pops. I refuse! I ain’t gonna marry Soun to unite the schools. I’m a guy, dammit.” Ranma yelled, furious. Since she was trapped as a woman and would be for the rest of her life, Genma and Soun had come up with a plan for Ranma to marry another Tendo, namely Soun Tendo, the family patriarch.

“Then get out! You are no son of mine, you are no child of mine! Ungrateful girl!” Genma Saotome roared, casting his only child out of his life. Kasumi stood up, horrified. Nabiki seemed rather disinterested, Akane was crying quietly and Soun Tendo was nodding, agreeing with his old buddy Genma. “Daddy, this is wrong. Ranma-chan needs our support!” Kasumi attempted to interrupt, only for Soun to turn on her, his demon head technique roaring at her. “Sit, Kasumi! This is a matter of family honor!” This was the first time Kasumi had been the target of her fathers rage like that and stricken she sat down quickly.

\--

Ranma nodded at those memories. They were painful, the last time she had seen any of the two fathers for almost a decade. Kasumi sighed as she too remembered the redheads departure. “If you remember, it was on a Saturday. Pops couldn’t cut me officially from the family until Monday, so I got this crazy idea that I could go to Mom, commit Sepukku and then I’d be dead before any changes to the family register. Dying a Saotome.”

\--

A drenched wet redhead stood in the door of Nodoka Saotome. This was her mother, but she did not know, as Ranma had pretended to be Ranko. Well, no more time for lies.

“Oh, Ranko!” Nodoka exclaimed. “Come in, come in, let me make you some tea. Why are you out in this terrible weather?”

“I’m not Ranko, mom. I’m Ranma. I… We… Pops dragged me to a cursed training ground in China. He became a part-time panda, I became a part-time girl.” Ranma sighed. “At least I was until I got myself stuck forever.”

Nodoka stared at the younger girl. She had noticed the resemblance before. But no, it could not be true, magic did not exist. “A curse? I am not really believing you. Can you prove it?”

Ranma sighed and considered. If she told her mom to go to to the Tendo dojo… No, Pops would probably run away at the first sign of his wife, figuring that Ranma had revealed the truth. Ryoga was of course lost as usual. Shampoo had gone back to China. Mousse had gone too. Wait, Cologne had only said she and Shampoo would go back. Was it because Mousse was a male and not considered worth mentioning or had they left him here? It wouldn’t surprise if Shampoo would want him to be stuck here, far away from herself.

“I think, maybe, we can go to the Nekohanten?” Ranma then decided. “Maybe Mousse is there, he can prove it.”

\--

Kasumi nodded and sighed. “I heard. The Amazons had put all blame on Mousse for you getting locked and he was banished for it?”

“Yes. Mousse was at the Nekohanten, but in a very bad condition. They had turned him into a duck, then locked him in his cage and just abandoned him.” Ranma said sadly, making Kasumi gasp. “If we hadn’t gone there… Well, it is in the past now. I guess what matters is that I was able to use Mousse to prove that curses existed.”

“Since you are here, I don’t think your mother decided you were unmanly?” Kasumi questioned, to which Ranma sighed. “She did not. The contract was written for Pops to take me away for a few months, make a man out of me. And she never planned originally to uphold it. But then years passed and it was everything she had. She became obsessed with how manly I had to be for it to take such a long time.”

\--

“Ranma,” Nodoka said, as they were back at the Saotome home. Mousse had been brought home with them, weakened by starvation and neglect, so he was now sleeping, regaining strength. “I’m sorry Ranma, but I can’t do it… I can’t hold you to that contract. It was never meant to be that way.” With that said, Nodoka embraced her daughter, which caused Ranma to break down.

Sobbing Ranma tried to explain why she needed to die, only for Nodoka to hug her tighter.

“My child, you can’t be removed by your father. When he abandoned me for such a long time, I legally was forced to become temporary head of the family. Well, he hasn’t presented himself officially to me yet, so I am still head. And after this I can promise you, I’ll fight him in court to keep this control.”

Ranma let out some more sobs, but it seemed less so.

\--

“I survived. And mom insisted that I see a therapist.” Ranma said with a smile. “Of course I didn’t think I needed one, but mom was quite determined. It was a gender therapist and I was supposed to be treated like a woman seeking to become a man.” Ranma explained. Kasumi studied Ranma, tilting her head.

“Yeah, yeah. Already first session my therapist had firmly established I was not that. After that she dug deeper.” Ranma frowned. “Ever since I had gotten cursed I kinda felt I was on a slippery slope, constantly having to worry that I slipped and turned into a girly girl. When I arrived to your home I would never have worn a dress, when I was banished I had done so several times. I guess it just buried it instead, behind a wall of false masculinity. But the truth is that while I may initially have disliked my curse, I first grew to accept it, then actually like it.”

“Oh my, I see.” Kasumi then said, nodding mostly to herself. “Yeah, took me almost a year to reach that point. But even then, living with my mom, I had had already started changing. Without Pop there and with mom supporting me in everything, I just slowly became more and more girl, until one day I realized that I had not thought about being a guy for weeks. These days I wouldn’t even think about using a way to unlock the curse or cure it.”

\--

Ranma looked into the mirror. She had finally accepted that she was a girl and would remain so for the rest of her life. A part of her was happy that she could embrace that side of herself, but there was always this doubt about what would happen if she started liking boys.

She sighed. If she started liking boys she’d really be a ‘normal’ girl. Nobody would think it was perverted, in fact the perversion would be if she liked girls. But she had been born a boy. Did she even want to like boys? Maybe it was okay being a lesbian?

Her therapists words kept haunting her. That question if she had ever been in love with a girl or a boy. She had definitely been attracted to Akane. And Ukyo at one point in time. Except back then she thought back on that Ukyo Ranma thought she was a boy that treasonous voice in the back of her head whispered.

It wasn’t like she could fall for a guy. Unbidden an image of Ryoga came to her, of him leaving the furo, muscular upper body glistening from the water. He’d go to her, take her in his arms, hold her and then…

Ranma let out a sob as she snapped out of that fantasy. First she’d lost her masculinity and considering the warmth she felt in her body, the heart beating faster, she was on the verge of abandoning the last part of the old Ranma.

\--

“When we digged deeper into things, I kinda realized I had felt that way about Ryoga ever since private school. I wanted to be closer to him, just could not explain why. But fighting was my kind of flirting. Fighting was everything Pop had taught me. Impressing Ryoga was very important to me.”

It was at this point a tall man with glasses approached the redhead and slid down next to her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Mousse?” Kasumi asked, realizing that this man was Ranma’s old rival. Mousse looked at Kasumi and gave her a nod. “Tendo-san,” he said to acknowledge her presence. Kasumi smiled warmly. “It is Ono now.”

Ranma let out a small laugh. “So the doctor finally got over his Kasumi-itis? Good for you, Kasumi. I think all of Nerima always felt you were destined to be together.” Kasumi blushed and nodded. “I sought him out after… You know. I just needed to speak with someone and my own family had abandoned someone who had become a little brother, well, I guess it would be little sister today.” Ranma nodded to confirm, then turned to Mousse.

“Where is the Hellspawn?” Ranma asked, as she nudged her husband. Kasumi looks a bit surprised and Mousse just shrugged and answered. “She got bored of normal rides, wanted the water rides. But don’t worry, she’s with her grandmother.”

“Hellspawn?” Kasumi then asks, as Ranma the mother hen seems to relax. “Her name is Reiko, but even at 4 she seems to have Ranma’s ability to get what she wants.” Mousse said, making Ranma make an exclamation, blushing. “Hey! I thought we agreed she was the hellspawn because it was a hell to go through the pregnancy?”

Mousse shuddered, remembering Ranma’s behaviour 5 years earlier. “Yeah, you were quite irrational back then.” Which caused Ranma to frown. “You try carry around a water melon inside of you and you’d be cranky too.”

“If it was that horrible, why would you then go through it again?” Kasumi then questioned, caushing Ranma to shrug. “I guess a moment of weakness. My mom loves Reiko and kept on talking about more grandchildren. And I really hated being an only child, always wished I had a sibling. And the restaurant was running great and well, in the end it just made sense.” Mousse smirked. “And who was it that spent 3 months gushing about how wonderful Yumi’s newborn daughter was and how wonderful it would be to have another one? And became completely insationable?” This caused Ranma to blush.

“Anyway, let’s stop talking about that stuff. How have things been with you and the rest of the family?” Ranma tried turning the focus away from herself.

Kasumi shrugged. “Well, I am married to Tofu. Have been for close to 9 years. I finished my education to be a nurse and assist my husband when I’m not busy with the 3 wonderful children. Kimiko is 7, Saisuke is 4 and little Sakura was born around 6 months ago.” Ranma smiled and nodded. “They sound wonderful,” which caused Kasumi to smile and nod.

“I guess Akane needed to mature a bit more. In college she did date a girl for a while. But these days she’s in a relationship with a male co-star from the theatre. I know he’s asked daddy permission to marry her, but I think he’s still waiting for a right moment. No children and she doesn’t really seem that interested in being a mother, focusing more on her career. She is actually one of the stars of the theatre she works in, but she has ambitions of going on the big screen,” Kasumi continued.

“Nabiki is with Kuno. They married 2 years ago. Nabiki is currently pregnant with their first child. Kuno did go through a lot of therapy after you left Nerima. He can still be quite obsessive, but I guess enough exposure to the panda has finally convinced him that the curses are real. She is quite busy managing Kuno estate, while Tatewaki is assisting.”

“And speaking of pandas, your father and mine still live in the dojo. Most of their days they talk about their glorious past and their dreams of uniting the schools. They really seem to have lost some of that drive they had before.” Kasumi informs Ranma who nods.

“Ukyo still runs Ucchan together with her wife, Konatsu, which honestly was a bit of a surprise. I actually thought Ukyo was not attracted to girls at all, even if she had been raised as a boy.” This caused Ranma to snicker. “Oh, so you never realized that Konatsu is a guy, at least physically? He was raised as a girl, dresses as a girl and lives as one. I know he had a crush on Ukyo, but I don’t know his actual gender identity, it wasn’t really anything we knew or talked about back then.”

Kasumi was surprised, nodding as things made more sense. “You apparently know more about the Amazons. They just vanished and Nekohanten closed down.” Ranma nodded and gave Mousse a kiss on the cheek.”

“Well, as you know they left Mu behind, banished from the tribe. He stayed with mom and I, he was devastated being banished and losing who he thought was the love of his life,” Ranma began, only for Mousse placing a hand on her arm. “Let me tell this story, love?” he asked and receives a confirming nod.

“As my wife has told, I was depressed. Nekohantens lease expired and I would have ended up in the streets. But Ranma and Nodoka offered me a guest room. It was a slow process getting over it all, but as I finally started returning to life, Ranma was coming to terms with who she was now. And during that time I had fallen in love with Ranma instead. I honestly thought I had no chance, but challenged her amazon style, hoping to win her heart. I was surprised when I won,” “Only because I let you win,” “As I said, when I won we went on a date. It was wonderful. And one date became another. Then another and,” “Yeah, and then one day I figured that kissing him would not be that bad.” Ranma interrupts again, causing Mousse to shake his head and smile.

“Long story short, we ended up dating, then around 6 years ago we married.” “And I gave him the greatest wedding present for our honeymoon,” Ranma once again interrupted, causing Mousse to let out sigh and gesture for his wife to continue. “We went to China and I challenged the Amazons, demanding that Tzu should regain his status in the tribe.”

\--

“Honoured Elders. I am Ranma Tzu-Saotome, wife of Mu Tzu-Saotome, a male innocently banished! I challenge for his reinstatement into the tribe!” Ranma exclaimed loudly.

“So, former son-in-law, you married Mu Tzu? Interesting. Maybe we should have used him to draw you here instead of Shampoo. I did not know you swung that way.” Cologne said, sitting on top of her cane.

“I had not realized it back then. But eventually I realized that my view of the world was changing. I accepted and embraced my femininity and the fact that I was a woman. Even if a cure was found or a way to unlock the curse was found, I would not use it. I am a wife and one day I will be a mother.” Ranma said, causing Cologne to chuckle.

“Truly magnificent. A shame you never got to marry Xian Pu, your children would have been amazing. But very well, let us see if you can prevent us from executing your husband for returning from banishment without permission, let us see if you can back up that confidence you’ve always possessed, Ranma.” And with that the elder jumped forward, ready to strike.

\--

“I never lose, so of course I beat the old ghoul. This actually means that as the wife of a male amazon, I am part of the tribe, yet will never wield any political power. Of course we live here, only see Mu’s parents about once a year, but I guess the ghoul actually got me into the tribe as she originally planned, just in a different way than she intended.” Ranma said with that confidence that Kasumi remembered from Nerima, causing the slightly older woman to laugh.

“We both had experience working with food, so we started a restaurant together. Actually we started that before we even started dating, because we both needed money. It is a moderate success, I think. At least it has allowed us to make an addition to moms house, so it now has a dojo and a guest house. We both practice the Tzu-Saotome School of Anything Goes. Currently there’s only one student and she’s only 4. Still I think she’s got a potential to rival my own,” the last is said with that overconfident smirk that Ranma was famous for back in Nerima.

Suddenly the young girl in the carrier starts crying and Kasumi lets out a sigh and a smile. “Well, looks like someone either needs changing or is hungry. So I should probably go do that. But I’d love to talk more, we should never have lost contact for such a long time. So how about you both bring your family tomorrow, including your mother, Ranma? We live in Tofu’s old clinic and I’ll make one of my famous dinners.”

Ranma gave a smile and nod. “I’d love that. Maybe invite Akane too. It is only Nabiki and our two fathers I’d avoid. I can just imagine the old panda trying to kidnap Reiko to take her on a training journey.” And with that Kasumi nods and hurries to the bathroom, while Ranma turrns her head and gives her husband a kiss. "Let us avoid the madness this time at least," she says, which causes him to laugh. "Only if you keep your chaotic nature contained, my love."


End file.
